Zombie Smash sequel fleshes out Fruit Ninja formula (preview)

The developers behind Zombie Smash never intended to go into video games. Back in 2008, Matthias Hoechsmann was a German researcher working at a lab in UC Santa Cruz. He was studying extremophiles, remarkable organisms that are capable of living in inhospitable environments such as acidic lakes and hydrothermal vents.

But then the iPhone came out and it turned the lives of Hoechsmann and his brother upside down. Avid gamers since they were children, the two saw an opportunity in the smartphone, and the two quit their respective jobs and founded a studio called Gamedoctors. Together they published the aforementioned title, and it was an immediate hit, topping the iTunes Store charts on every continent.

Don’t worry if you miss a zombie. You won’t be heavily penalized for it.

GETTING INTO THE BUSINESS OF GAMES: “That’s how we got started in the games business,” Hoechesmann said. A few years later, Zynga bought the team as part of its push to establish a foothold in mobile games.

“Over time, we figured out we had a lot in common,” he said about the acquisition. “We can keep up the independent developer spirit. Things work out.” Hoechesmann is now director of Zynga Mobiel Germany and he’s in charge of the sequel called Zombie Swipeout.

The follow-up expands on the concepts of the original, where you could smash, toss and spike zombies attacking the main character Joey. But instead of using the game’s ragdoll effects to mangle zombies across the screen, players are now asked to slice and dice them in a concept that’s similar to Halfbrick’s Fruit Ninja.

The type of weapon matters in Zombie Swipeout. The undead react different to a strike with a baseball compared to a slash with a machete.

ORIGINS IN ZOMBIE SMASH: Hoechsmann said it was a concept they wanted to add to the original Zombie Smash, but they decided to spin it off and create a whole new project. What separates it from its rivals is that Zombie Swipeout incorporates its proprietary ragdoll physics to the equation, adds an RPG element and introduces a more social component to the game.

In Zombie Swipeout, weapons matter. Players can equip machetes and baseball bats and use them to slash or crush brain-eaters that fly across the screen; the undead react differently depending on the weapon. In addition, each zombie has a weak point that’s tied to specific piece of your arsenal. For example, players will have to smash in the enemy’s head with a baseball bat for a bonus and quick kill.

Leveling up will unlock rewards such as a first-aid kit to save Joey and power-ups such as grenades.

A DEEPER LEVEL OF GAMEPLAY: But it’s not all just slicing and bashing. As in Fruit Ninja, players score combo points for slashing several zombies in one swipe. There are also objects they have to avoid — namely Joey, the protagonist — and power-ups that help eviscerate the undead. That’s where the leveling system comes in. Going up levels unlocks bonuses such as grenades that destroy everything on the screen or liquid nitrogen that freezes foes so that players can hit them more easily. It also happens to unlock weapon boxes that contain more powerful zombie-killing tools.

Players will need them because there are several types of undead. Some like Franklin the Zombie appear out of nowhere. Others like the burly Matt need more than one swipe to take down. If players happen to accidentally hit Joey while they’re slicing enemies, there is a way to rescue him but it will cost players a healing pack. Players will have to be judicious when using it.

Swipe at any coin you see! You’ll need them to buy new weapons and energy.

THE IN-GAME ECONOMY THAT KEEPS YOU PLAYING: That’s one part of the strategy that goes into Zombie Swipeout. The other comes in a third set of objects that players collect — coins. They are vital to the in-game economy, which lets players purchase weapons and energy. The first is pretty self-explanatory. Weapons cost money. The more effective ones that can give you a higher score are expensive. But they also have a price in another resource called energy. That’s the limiter for each play.

Once you buy a weapon, there’s an energy cost to use it and players only have so much energy. It adds more strategy and a feeling of risk to the game. Gamers can’t just play Zombie Swipeout over and over again. The energy resource limits their attempts. There can purchase more energy with their coins, buy some with real money or wait for it to recharge.

All of this is done just so you can beat your friends on the leaderboard, which is the social element in Zombie Swipeout. You compete against others via the iOS Game Center or Facebook. Like any good Zynga game, it’s the competition that keeps Zombie Swipeout fun and hooks the players. They want to beat their friends’ high score, and they can do that once the game is released for free in the coming days.